Hopwood's Living Pictures: Their History, Photo-Production, and Practical Working

Abstract

THE last twenty years have seen such amazing development, both technically and industrially, in all that pertains to moving-picture devices that it is difficult to realise how long ago observations were made and simple devices constructed which by slow degrees led to the position from which the present activity has sprung. The whole story is well told in the new edition of Hopwood's “Living Pictures.” The reviser has the advantage not only of a good scientific education, but also of that special training required for members of the legal profession, and this is reflected throughout the book in the strictly accurate statements of the problems at every stage and lucid descriptions of the method of solution. Further, the classification of the numerous modes adopted by different inventors for arriving at the desired end is a help to the reader and avoids the confusion which a merely chronological treatment, for instance, would introduce. Two other features should be mentioned. The early history, beginning with the observation of Dr. Roget on the appearance of the spokes of a wheel seen through a fence, is interesting, in that we find how many of the best-known scientific workers made contributions to the general subject. The following is list of some of these: Brewster, Wollaston, Babbage, Herschel, Plateau, Faraday, Savart, Wheatstone, Clerk Maxwell, Marey, Janssen.

Hopwood's Living Pictures: Their History, Photo-Production, and Practical Working.

By R. B. Foster. New edition, revised and enlarged. Pp. x + 377. (London: The Hatton Press, Ltd., 1915.) Price 6s. net.